Shadow Games
by Gardeners Grow Love
Summary: The entity that created and was sealed in the Shadow Realm has gathered enough strength to return
1. Shadow Duel

Chapter One: In the Darkness  
  
In the darkness of the Shadow Realm, a thought pierced the silence and chaos. /Revenge will be much sweeter after five millennia./ The consciousness brooded in the vast nothingness. Only will had sustained it; unable to take physical form, it had persisted as a malevolent spirit, grasping the minds of unwary monsters and preying on their energy. Little by little, it had regained a pitiful fraction of its former strength, but even this triumph was bitter.  
  
/Ironic, how I am a prisoner of my own creation./ For the Shadow Realm had been its brainchild, nurtured by his dark power until it was an infinite labyrinth of games and traps.  
  
/Trapped within myself, like a pitiful yami./ The shadow's thoughts glowed with anger in the gloom of the Shadow Realm.  
  
/No! I am the ultimate darkness. All shadows belong to me./ The shadow twisted its thoughts into a ghost of a smile, more out of habit than real need. /Soon, the dark soul of the reincarnated Amenhotep will be mine./ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
The Duel Monsters battlefield was alight with holographic monsters. Yugi couldn't see his opponent in the dark of the forest, but he could hear his menacing voice and the silent aura of taunting he projected. Surrounded by shadows, Yugi felt small and alone. Slightly afraid, he reached a trembling hand to draw a card. Black Magician, his most trusted monster. Yugi smiled confidently, knowing that the Black Magician would win him his battle.  
  
"I play the Black Magician in attack mode." The card activated and the blue-eyed monster materialized on the battle field. Regal in purple, he awaited Yugi's command. "Black Magician, attack Flame Swordsman!" The magician raised a hand holding a ball of concentrated black energy and aimed. His opponent's monster was obliterated from the field in a shock of energy, taking a chunk out of the duelist's life points. "Not so fast, Yugi," came a soft malevolent voice. "I activate the change of heart card I laid down two turns ago and use it to take over your Black Magician." Yugi stared helplessly as his most loyal card traded masters. He could feel his heart sinking as he stared into the Black Magician's suddenly icy eyes. "Black Magician, attack Yugi," the voice said lazily. "What?!" Yuugi's violet eyes widened in horror as the Black Magician advanced on him, staff ready to emit a powerful dark magic attack. Monsters can't attack duelists! "But this is no ordinary game," his opponent leered, as if reading his mind. "In the Shadow Realm, the stakes are always much higher." Yugi involuntarily let out a whimper and raised both hands to shield himself from the onslaught. "NO!" Yuugi shouted, clenching his blankets into a sweaty ball. Thankfully, his scream was muffled into his pillow and didn't wake up his grandpa. /Are you alright, aibou? What happened?/ The frightened boy slowly unlocked his tense body and sat up, staring into the red concerned eyes of his yami. "The same dream again," Yugi explained, eyes slowly spilling tears. "I was dueling someone I couldn't see in a dark place, and he commanded my Black Magician to attack me." Yami placed his arms protectively around the smaller boy and held him against his own chest. "It's alright," he soothed, "it was just a dream. I'm here, you have nothing to worry about." Gradually, Yuugi stopped sobbing and drew a shaky breath. "Thanks, Yami." He gave his aibou a weak smile that Yami reflected. "Go to sleep now. I'm right here." With that, Yugi let himself drift back to sleep while his dark sat on the edge of his bed, looking at the sleeping form and deep in thought. Dreams are omens we sometimes cannot choose to ignore. With that thought, Yami continued his vigil over his light side deep into the night. 


	2. Bakura

Chapter Two: Bakura  
  
Sunlight leaked through the slightly parted curtains of Yugi's bedroom and lightly tickled his nose. The boy rolled over in his sleep and tried to bury his head into his pillow but came in contact with something. One sleepy violet eye lolled open to see a tall thin youth that looked like an older version of himself sitting on the floor with his back against Yugi's bed. "Yami?" "Morning. Feel better now?" The Game King smiled as his counterpart slowly emerged from the cave he had made of his blankets. "I feel fine, what do you mean?" Yugi asked. His aibou frowned slightly, then remembered that Yugi could never recall his nightmares in the morning. "Nothing. You just seemed tired yesterday." "Oh don't worry. I'm up and running now." Yugi ran a hand through his hair and hoped he had remembered to buy more hair gel. If he hadn't, there would be hell to pay and he would have to spend at least half an hour trying to wrestle his hair into a hat to cover up bed-head. "Well, give me 5 minutes and I will be." He frowned. "Didn't you go to sleep last night? You look tired."  
  
Yami brushed off the question, "I had something to think about. I think I could use a little shut-eye though," he said, stifling a yawn. "I'll see you later, aibou," ruffling the smaller boy's hair. "Hey, it's bad enough as it is," Yugi mock-complained, swiping at his hair. He watched as his counterpart returned to his soul room then bounced up from bed. Another day, but thankfully without school. Yugi smiled at the prospect of seeing his friends today and rushed through his morning routine. He wolfed down an enormous stack of pancakes that his grandpa had left for him and ran out the door, heading towards the arcade two blocks away.  
  
"C'mon! One more thunder attack and we can fry that little jerk," muttered the sandy-haired youth in a Brooklyn accent while staring intently at the screen. "You can do better'n, for crying out loud.Dammit!" he yelled as his monster's life points hit zero. Joey frowned at the screen. "Hey, hey, hey. What've we here?" Tristan poked his head over Joey's shoulder as his friend tried to cover up the screen with his big hair. Unfortunately, though he did have hair that would rival Tarzan's, it wasn't enough to block the screen. "Téa! Better get over here and take a look! You're not going to believe it even if I told you." Joey desperately tried to scramble away from his friends but Tristan had a firm grip on his green jacket. "What is it, Tristan?" "Looks like Joey decided Duel Monsters was a little too rough and switched to something a little softer," chuckled Tristan. Joey turned several shades of crimson and sweat-dropped as Téa started laughing. "Hey.. what's going on?" The trio turned to face Yugi, who was puffing from running two blocks to the arcade. Téa was laughing so hard she was clutching her sides and Tristan looked like a Cheshire cat that just caught a mouse. Joey, on the other hand, jammed his hands into his pockets and tried to look tough. "Take a look for yourself." Tristan moved aside, dragging a highly- embarrassed Joey away from the game console the latter was previously playing. One violet-colored eye started twitching on Yugi's face as he saw an electronic pikachu race across the screen, followed by several other pokémon. "Joey, I don't even wanna know." "Hey, we all have a coupla things we dun tell each other. This happens to be, uh, Serenity's favorite game and I, uh, wanted to brush up my skills on it so I could play it with her," Joey defended himself. Yugi held up his hands and smiled. "Chill out, Joey. It's just a game." /Game?/ Yami raised an interested eyebrow. "Yeah, well, trying telling that to 'em." Joey jerked a thumb over at Tristan and Téa, who were still laughing. //Nothing really, just one of those video games.// /Can I come out to see?/ Yugi grinned at the prospect of Yami playing pokémon. Well, this was going to turn into an interesting day. //I thought you were tired.// /Never too tired for a game./ //Sure.// Yami materialized beside his aibou and stepped up to the game console. Inserting a quarter, the game king sweat-dropped as he watched the cute pocket monsters dancing to the pokémon theme song. I challenge you the game screen flickered. "Err." Seeing Yami's confusion, Yugi and Joey snickered as Téa and Tristan nearly choked from laughing so hard. The pharaoh frowned. No way was he going to back down from a duel, even if it was with a fuzzy electric rat. "I accept your challenge," he said formally and began to jiggle the controls. Téa and Tristan crowded beside Yami to watch the action. "So, where's Bakura?" Yugi asked. Joey shrugged. "Sorry I'm late, you guys," answered a soft British accent. They turned around to find their white-haired friend covered in bandages. Yugi frowned. "What happened, Ryou?" "I. fell on my way here," he answered, not quite meeting Yugi's worried amethyst eyes. Yugi and Joey exchanged a look. "Dere's no way u could be that clutzy, Ryou," said Joey. "What is it? C'mon, spill it." The bandaged youth stared at his hands. "I don't really want to talk about it." Yugi frowned, and made a mental note to talk with Bakura privately. He knew his friend was shy around people and hated to burden anyone else with his problems, but his wounds looked serious. Joey sensed Bakura's hesitation and dropped the subject. "Hey pal, we'll just get Téa to teach you a couple of dance moves and you'll be waltzing your way around in no time." Ryou smiled half-heartedly at Joey. They all turned back to the screen in time to watch Yami's squirtle spray water-gun at the computer's Ryhorn, knocking the monster out. Yami grinned. "They don't call me the King of Games for nothing," he smirked. The group sweat-dropped. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
The gang left the arcade, heading towards the ice cream parlor farther down the block. Joey and Yami were engaged in a heated debate about the effectiveness of electrical pokémon against leaf types while Téa and Tristan listened. The four had agreed to let Yuugi talk to Bakura at Joey's insistence, so they allowed Bakura to lag behind the group. //Aibou, now's a good time to talk to Ryou.// Yuugi slowed his stride slightly to fall in step with his friend. "Are you alright?" Ryou's eyes shifted uncomfortably. "I'm fine. It looks much worse than it feels." Yuugi looked up at his friend. "Ryou, you can trust me." Ryou nervously fingered a bandage. Being the only child of a single parent, he was extremely withdrawn and closed to the point of being anti- social. Only this year had he begun making friends and now, he stood to lose them because he could not control the force within himself. Ryou did not have the courage to face up to his problem. How could he expect his friends to carry his burden? He almost brushed off the smaller boy beside him but caught the concern in his friend's gentle purple eyes. Yugi, of all people, would be the most likely to understand his dilemma. He took a deep breath. "It's. my yami. I don't know how, but he has somehow found a way to return from the Shadow Realm. I can't control his behavior. He. every night." Bakura's voice died to a whisper as he tugged at a band-aid. Yugi's eyes widened as a thin needle of fear shot through him. 


End file.
